Wu Chin-mei, chairwoman of an express shipping company in Matsu, arrives in Lianjiang county via a ferry in Fuzhou, Fujian province, on Sunday. (Photo by Chen Chenzhi/For China Daily)

Routes between eastern province and outlying Matsu, Kinmen sailing again

All ferry services between the coastal areas of Fujian province and the islands of Kinmen and Matsu, which are administered by Taiwan, have resumed after being suspended for nearly three years due to COVID-19.

A ferry departed Matsu for Lianjiang county of Fuzhou, Fujian — the last of the routes to resume service — at 10 am on Sunday and returned at noon with about 80 passengers. Those taking the service on Sunday were given free tickets. There will be two roundtrip sailings per week between the two places.

Wang Xi, an officer from the Fuzhou Maritime Safety Administration, said a green channel was launched to ensure the speedy customs clearance of the boat, and staff members gave passengers flowers to welcome them.

Wu Hung-kuan, a resident of Matsu who took the ferry to Fuzhou with his wife on Sunday, said, "We planned to take the bullet train to Beijing to visit our son the next day. He got married last year, but we haven't met our daughter-in-law."

Wu Chin-mei, chairwoman of an express shipping company in Matsu, said, "It's expected that the restoration of all four ferry routes will greatly improve the business of my company."

The 8-nautical-mile ferry route, which takes about 30 minutes with a maximum load of 145 people, is the shortest and fastest between the mainland and Matsu. Since its opening in December 2015, more than 5,500 trips have been made transporting over 194,000 passengers, 60 percent of whom were from Taiwan.

The resumption of the route marked the restoration of all four routes between the coastal areas of Fujian and the two islands. In January, ferry services between Xiamen, Fuzhou, Kinmen and Matsu resumed operations. Services between Quanzhou and Kinmen resumed this month.

The services were initially launched during the 2000s as a way for people to travel across the Taiwan Straits. The services were suspended by Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities in February 2020 as part of COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control measures. By that time, over 22 million passengers had traveled via the routes.

Since their resumption this year, the first three routes have operated a total of 118 trips, transporting about 6,380 passengers, according to data from the local authority.

The ferry resumptions have come at a time when cross-Straits exchanges have been gradually resuming after being hampered by the epidemic.

However, many people complained about the newly restored services being limited to Kinmen and Matsu residents, their spouses from the mainland and mainland students who study in Kinmen. Taiwan authorities claimed the restrictions were due to concerns over the coronavirus.

Many people complained that the current restrictions exclude Taiwan residents on the mainland from taking the ferry to Kinmen or Matsu, from where they can fly back to Taiwan.

To meet their needs, airline authorities on the mainland recently informed the island to prepare for the resumption of direct flights.

The island authority announced recently that individual visits to Taiwan by Hong Kong and Macao residents will resume on Monday, but mainland residents will still be excluded.